Biblical Greek Exegesis

by George H. Guthrie, J. Scott Duvall

Biblical Greek Exegesis presents a proven, highly practical approach to the study of intermediate and advanced Greek grammar. Most textbooks focus on learning syntactical categories, illustrated by sentences taken from the Greek New Testament, and place little emphasis on how to apply Greek grammar to the Greek text in preparing sermons and lectures. In contrast, Biblical Greek Exegesis stresses “real-life” application. Beginning with selections from the Greek New Testament, students learn intermediate and advanced Greek grammar inductively by analyzing the text. The process closely resembles the approach used in sermon and lecture preparation. In Part 1 (SYNTAX), students work through nine selections from the New Testament, taken from the Gospels, Paul’s letters (including Romans), and the General Letters. The selections are arranged in order of increasing difficulty. The student becomes familiar with syntactical categories through translation, grammatical analysis, and grammatical diagramming, supplemented by class discussion. Equally important, the length of these selections allows for semantic diagramming and analysis. This provides a tool for analyzing larger units of meaning, which is not possible when working only with sentences that illustrate specific points of grammar. In Part 2 (EXEGESIS), the student takes the sections from the Greek New Testament through a twelve-step method of exegesis and exposition. The student works through one section of approximately fifteen verses every two weeks, beginning with the first step—spiritual preparation—and ending with application and a preaching/teaching outline. This approach has two benefits. Advanced Greek students learn to use the Greek text and grammar as they will in the “real world.” They also learn to integrate other significant areas such as literary form and textual criticism, as well as the use of exegetical tools. In short, they become better expositors of the Word of God. Bibliographies are provided for each of the twelve steps in the exegetical process. Also included is a summary of syntactical categories based on Wallace’s Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics. This successfully field-tested approach to intermediate and advanced Greek will help students bridge the gap between understanding the categories of Greek grammar and the demand to communicate the meaning and significance of the New Testament message to the twenty-first century.

Genres: Reference, Biblical Studies, Language

192 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1998

About the author

Dr. George Guthrie serves as the Benjamin W. Perry Professor of Bible at Union University in Jackson, TN. As a student of the New Testament and Koine Greek, he is the author of numerous articles and seven books, including, The Structure of Hebrews: A Textlinguistic Analysis (Supplements to Novum Testamentum, 73. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1994; republished by Baker Books in 1998), Biblical Greek Exegesis (Co-authored with J. Scott Duvall, Zondervan), the NIV Application Commentary: Hebrews, and Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary: Hebrews. Dr. Guthrie has participated in translation projects, such as the revision of The New Living Translation, and has served as a consultant on the Holman Christian Standard Bible, the New Century Version, and the English Standard Version. He has also served for five years as a co-chair of the Biblical Greek Language and Linguistics Section of SBL, has served on the Executive Committee of the Institute for Biblical Research, and has served on the editorial board for Sheffield's JSNTS monograph series. At Union University he has led in the establishment of, and serves as Senior Fellow in, the Ryan Center for Biblical Studies, which is committed to promoting sound Bible reading, study, and interpretation at the grassroots level of the church. Dr. Guthrie holds both the Ph.D. and the M.Div. degrees from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and a Th.M. from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.

Reviews

[Anthony Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

The exegetical method is nothing unusual. It is perfectly fine. But the gem of this book is its careful, explanatory approach to grammatical and semantic diagramming and overall student-friendly presentation. My reason for four, rather than five, stars is the including of the step of producing a translation (two of the 12 steps, actually). I am convinced that exegesis which aims for translation often skews the text in an English (or student’s first-language) way. I do understand that translation is considered useful as a means of confirming understanding. But in this case I’d suggest that the preliminary and polished translation (steps 4 and 10) can be dropped with the final understanding of the text confirmed by an extended paraphrase (also step 10). To be fair to the authors, though, even Fee’s classic textbook includes translation in its plan for student exegesis.